How is SEND defined in the 2014 code of practice?
At different times in their school life, a child or young person may have a special educational need. The Code of Practice 2014 defines SEN as follows:
“A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special education provision to be made for him or her. A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she:
- a) has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others the same age, or
b) has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions.
Where pupils’ progress is significantly different to that of their peers, or fails to match their previous rate of progress, despite high quality teaching targeted at specific areas of difficulty, it may be that the child has SEN. Information will be gathered, including seeking the views of parents and the pupil, as well as from teachers and assessments.
There can be many reasons for learners ‘falling behind.’ These may include absences, attending lots of different schools, difficulties with speaking English, or worries that distract them from learning. The schools understand that children who experience these barriers to learning are vulnerable. This does not mean that all vulnerable learners have SEN. Only those with a learning difficulty that requires special educational provision will be identified as having SEN.